Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that enables the routing of voice communications over any IP-based network, such as the public Internet. In VoIP, the voice data flows over a general-purpose packet-switched network rather than over the traditional circuit-switched Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
While migration to VoIP systems has been steadily increasing, security risks associated with the technology still remain. For example, preserving the confidentiality of VoIP communications is important, and is typically achieved by employing call authentication and encryption mechanisms. Also important is preserving the anonymity of VoIP users, which encompasses both the identities of the users and their caller/callee relationship (voice stream pair). Anonymity is often preserved using overlay networks that conceal the IP addresses of the conversing parties. In some instance, however (for example, in security applications), it may be desirable to identify at least a conversing pair of VoIP users, or generally users of any two-way speech communications medium.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for identifying conversing pairs over a two-way speech medium.